11 Plus Exams Forum

Please help. We are thingking of moving to South Bucks; Gerrards X, Beaconsfield, Stoke Poges or surrounding. Son is currently in Y7 so will be Y8 when we move. We have gathered many useful points on this site but our questions are: assuming child passes the exam, how easy would it be to get a place in ANY grammar school? Since there is no grammar school near, is there a good transport link just in case we are unable to drive to school? ( would prefer not toanyway) Can anyone advise of a better strategic location for a good access to both comp and grammars in case child does not pass. We know it might not be easy for Y8 but we are thinking about Y9, ie, if he does not pass or get a place in Y8, how realistic is the 13+ ? Can we move to Chorleywood area and still attend Bucks school? sorry if this seems long but we need your help!

Looks like you are trying to be very close to a motorway (M40 or M25). Are you able to stretch north or west a bit e.g. Amersham ?

And would you consider going private if necessary ?

You do need to exercise caution around the 13+. My starting point on this would be to assume I'm unlikely to get a grammar school place (so if I did it would be a massive bonus). These are the figures from 2006 for Year 9 entry [source: BucksCC late transfer procedure 2007].....

Applications received = 210

No of children tested = 111

Number of children
qualified = 42

Children allocated one of
their preferred schools = 15

Hi Movers

If you are moving in to the area you will have the advantage that you can apply for immediate testing, rather than your son sitting the 13+ along with the herd at Easter. That might give you a slight advantage on getting a place, as you could find a place opens up immediately and you are the only people chasing it at that point in time.

However, all places at the Grammars in South Bucks (and probably across the County) have just been filled by 12+ candidates, so you may not be lucky.

Places for the 12+/13+ are allocated primarily on distance from the school gates, so the closer you are to the centre of Amersham (for Dr Challoners Boys) or to Chesham High school the more chance you have of getting a place. Challoners is by far the most competitive of the two for places.

Chorleywood would be very unlikely for a GS place, but the alternative school there is Clement Danes. I hear mixed reports on it, but generally it is pretty reasonable I think.

A bit of a rough and ready response - if you can give a better indication of how much further north you are willing to go, and when you are likely to move we can probably be more helpful.

Sally-Anne

GX is probably not a good bet. As others have said, you need to be as close as possible and there are children from there, who live in catchment who have not been given a place at Challoner's even on the normal 11+ schedule when all the places are up for grabs.

Can only echo what Hugh and Sally-Anne say - most Bucks Grammars will be full by the ned of Year 7 with 12+ successes.

Why don't you ask Admissions if any schools have places? They might help - the South of Bucks seems to fill up its Grammars more quickly and the good Uppers will also be full.

You may need to consider a wider area -

Why not post on the Berkshire section? There are a number of good schools on the Bucks/Berks border. Not that we don't want you in Bucks, Movers!! You are very welcome, but the schooling situation is a real minefield here.

Thank you all. We are prepared to consider a wider area but our knowledge of the 'minefield' is very limited. Berks is a consideration so if anyone has an idea of good neighourhood with good schools please share. Beaconsfield is our top choice at the moment. I guess we will have to (reluctantly) go private if, and only if all fails. Thank you all and keep it coming, it shows we still have plenty to consider. OMG!

Personally I'd pick Amersham (no I don't actually live there, although I'm not far away). In Amersham, you would be:

1. Very close to Challoners.
2. Not far from Chesham High
3. Very close to the Amersham School which turns out decent results these days.
4. In the historic allocation zone for The Misbourne (if you live in parts of Old Amersham).
5. Near the bus stop for Berkhamsted Collegiate school (pick up at 07:50 near the station).
6. Near Amersham station and therefore less than 30 mins from Merchant Taylors at Moor Park.

Beaconsfield is gorgeous and I'd love to live there but it can be just a bit on the edge of things education-wise; Gerrards Cross is even worse in that regard. That's the last thing you want if your son is Year 7/8/9.

A lot of people in Becks expect and want to send their kids private, hence the big public schools mentioned above tend to have dedicated coaches just serving Becks.

Someone once told me that you shouldn't live in Becks unless you are a millionaire [this was quite some time ago!]. I suspect there is some rough-and-ready wisdom hidden behind that statement.

Hi Movers

If you register on the forum (bottom of the page, no spam or nasty stuff) you can send me - or anyone else - a PM and we can advise you in more detail, including things like commuting times!

The catchment schools for Beaconsfield are RGS and John Hampden at Wycombe - see map on this link:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/get/asset ... rammar.pdf

Both are good schools, but you would be a long way off, and that would really limit your chances of a place at either. There might be places at Burnham Grammar, but as you can see from a recent thread on Bucks, that gets very mixed press indeed.

For Berkshire you definitely need to post on the Berkshire section - we in Bucks will only have the haziest idea of the admissions system there and which schools are worth going for.

One other problem (as if we hadn't given you enough to worry about already!) is that because the Bucks grammar system is so strong there are very few good private schools at senior level in the immediate area. Again, there may be some good ones in Berkshire (there's a nice one right by Windsor Castle, I believe? ) but they may also not be an option because of cost/high entrance standards.

One private school worth a look is Clare's Court School near Maidenhead. Not a high pressure school, but a very good all-round school with a lovely atmosphere. All the children I have known go there have been incredibly happy.

Sally-Anne

Yes I'd second Sally-Anne's suggestion of Claires Court. Coaches run from Beaconsfield and Amersham to the school (although Becks is closer and the pick-up point later in the morning).

We have a coach running through our area and parents seem to sing its praises.